Addressing the needs of specialty chemical manufacturers is tricky. Few ERP (enterprise resource planning) solutions provide the kind of data tracking and audit trails that support compliance with governmental regulations. These prescribed manufacturing processes, material handling, and reporting functions are mandated within the specialty chemicals industry.

Beyond compliance, ERP solutions that aim to meet the needs of chemical manufacturers must recognize both make-to-order and off-the-shelf products. Systems must manage formula and packaging revisions, guaranteeing control of the version in production as well as prior versions (to be recreated in the future).

Quality control throughout a chemical manufacturing operation must also include purchase receipts and sales shipments and be available at any stage of production.

Critical reports for the specialty chemical industry include certificates of analysis (COA), bills of lading, and material safety data sheets.

Specialty chemical companies require ERP functionality with the following key product features:

• Laboratory and Formulation: Conducts laboratory analysis with formula revisions.

• Compliance Reporting: Creates MSDS and other shipping and material storage compliance reports.

• Quality Control: Integrated QC in purchasing, receiving, sales shipping, and in any stage of production.

• Production Scheduling: MPS schedules production in order to maximize capacity while fulfilling shipping promises.